How Does the Death of a Loved One Affect Mental Health?

What you need to know

• The death of a close family member can significantly increase the risk of stress reactions and depression
• The risk of developing alcohol use disorder also increases after losing a loved one, especially for men who lose a spouse
• The death of a child has the most severe impact on mental health compared to other family losses
• Younger deaths and accidental deaths tend to cause more severe mental health effects

The impact of losing a loved one

Losing a close family member is one of life’s most challenging experiences. While grief is a normal response to loss, sometimes the emotional impact can lead to mental health issues or substance use problems. This study used data from Swedish national registries to examine how the death of parents, siblings, spouses, and children affects people’s mental health and substance use.

Different mental health effects

The researchers looked at four main outcomes after a family member’s death:

1. Stress reactions
2. Major depression
3. Alcohol use disorder
4. Drug use disorder

They found that these outcomes were affected differently:

Stress reactions

Stress reactions showed the most immediate and largest increase after a death. The risk peaked in the first 3 months and then declined rapidly. However, the risk remained elevated for over a year in most cases.

Depression

The risk of depression increased more slowly and to a lesser degree than stress reactions. However, the elevated risk of depression tended to last longer.

Alcohol use disorder

There were modest but persistent increases in the risk of alcohol use disorder, especially for men who lost a spouse.

Drug use disorder

The study found little evidence of sustained increases in drug use disorders after losing a family member.

The impact varies by relationship

Not all losses affected people equally. The study found that losing different family members had varying impacts:

1. Child - Losing a child had the most severe impact on mental health, with the highest risk increases for stress reactions and depression.

2. Spouse - The death of a spouse also had a strong impact, particularly on the risk of alcohol use disorder in men.

3. Parents and siblings - While still significant, losing a parent or sibling generally had a smaller impact than losing a child or spouse.

Gender differences

The study found some differences in how men and women responded to loss:

• Women tended to have larger absolute increases in rates of stress reactions and depression.
• Men had larger increases in rates of alcohol use disorder, especially after losing a spouse.

However, when looking at the relative increase in risk compared to baseline rates, the differences between men and women were less pronounced for most outcomes.

Age and cause of death matter

The researchers also examined whether the circumstances of the death affected the mental health impact:

• Younger deaths - When parents, siblings, or spouses died at a younger age (under 65), it led to higher risks of stress reactions and depression compared to deaths of older relatives.

• Accidental deaths - Parents who lost a child to accidental causes showed higher rates of stress reactions and depression compared to non-accidental deaths.

These findings suggest that unexpected or premature deaths may be particularly difficult for people to cope with.

How the study was conducted

This study used a unique approach to examine the impact of loss:

• Data source - The researchers used Swedish national registries that contain health and demographic information for the entire population.

• Large sample - By using national data, they were able to look at hundreds of thousands of cases, providing very reliable results.

• Matched control groups - For each person who experienced a death, they identified similar individuals who had not lost a family member, allowing for accurate comparisons.

• Before and after comparisons - They looked at people’s mental health both before and after the loss, which helps show that the changes were likely caused by the death.

This approach overcomes some limitations of previous studies that relied on smaller samples or people’s memories of past events.

Conclusions

• Losing a close family member can have significant impacts on mental health, particularly increasing the risk of stress reactions and depression.

• The death of a child appears to have the most severe mental health consequences, followed by the loss of a spouse.

• While the risk of alcohol use problems increases after a loss, especially for men who lose a spouse, drug use disorders don’t seem to be as affected.

• Younger or accidental deaths tend to have more severe mental health impacts, likely because they are more unexpected.

• These findings highlight the importance of providing support and mental health resources to people who have lost close family members, especially in the months immediately following the loss.